Emptiness is the usual translation for the Buddhist term Sunyata (or Shunyata). It refers to the fact that no thing - including human existence - has ultimate substantiality, which in turn means that no thing is permanent and no thing is totally independent of everything else. In other words, everything in this world is interconnected and in constant flux. A deep appreciation of this idea of emptiness thus saves us from the suffering caused by our egos, our attachments, and our resistance to change and loss. - James Ure

True emptiness exists when the mind is clear and all forms have disappeared. Externally, there are no objects. Internally, there is no mind. There is only emptiness. In this state even emptiness does not exist. In true emptiness there is no space, no desire, no will; there are no appearances, no thoughts. All realms of existence are dissolved. In absolute stillness there is no self and no other. There is only Earlier Heaven in its undifferentiated whole. - Shui-ch'ing Tzu

Monday, 24 January 2011

An old man lived alone. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his predicament.

Shortly, he received this reply, “For HEAVEN’S SAKE Dad, don’t dig up that garden, that’s where I buried the GUNS!”

At four am the next morning, a dozen police showed up and dug up the entire garden, without finding any guns.

Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asking him what to do next.

His son’s reply was: “Now plant your potatoes, Dad. It’s the best I could do at this time.”

Thursday, 20 January 2011

The facts: Inhaling steam or humidified air - a cold remedy as old as the steam kettle - supposedly clears congestion, improves breathing and kills cold viruses, which are sensitive to heat.

Laboratory studies show, for example, that the rhinovirus - the most common cause of colds - is inactivated at temperatures above 43 deg C.

Yet a number of studies have failed to find strong evidence that a dose of heated, humidified air makes any difference for sniffling, sneezing cold sufferers.

In 2006, a report in The Cochrane Database Of Systematic Reviews examined the remedy by combining data from previous studies.

The report included six randomised controlled trials in which cold sufferers were exposed to heated water vapour.

Three of the studies showed benefits, while the others found either a worsening of symptoms or no change at all in antibody levels or shedding of viruses.

One of those studies, carried out at the Cleveland Clinic and published in The Journal Of The American Medical Association in 19994, had 68 cold sufferers sit through 60-minute steam treatments that raised the temperature inside the nose to the required 43 deg C. The treatments had no effect on symptoms like congestion and sneezing.

Ultimately, the Cochrane report concluded that steam inhalation should not be recommended as a remedy for colds until more studies bear out its usefulness.

The bottom line: The evidence for heated or humidified air as a cold treatment is lacking.

Sinus infections generally occur when the lining of the sinuses - hollows in the bones of the face around the nose - becomes inflamed.

It then traps air and pus and other secretions, leading to pain, headaches and congestion.

And what better way to keep air moving through the sinuses and nasal cavity than by humming a a tune?

In a study in The American Journal Or Respiratory And Critical Care Medicine, researchers examined this by comparing airflow in people when they hummed and when they quietly exhaled.

They found that the level of nitric oxide - a gas produced in the sinuses - exhaled during humming rose by 15 times.

Another study a year later in The European Respiratory journal found a similar effect: Humming resulted in a large increase in nasal nitric oxide.

Since reduced air flow plays a major role in sinus infections, the researchers suggested that daily periods of humming might help people lower their risk of chronic problems. But further study is needed, they said.

The bottom line: Studies show that humming helps increase airflow between the sinus and nasal cavities, which could potentially help protect against sinus infections.

Thursday, 6 January 2011

The facts: For people with chronic heartburn, restful sleep is no easy feat. Fall asleep in the wrong position and acid slips into the oesophagus, a recipe for agita and insomnia.

Doctors recommend sleeping on an incline to allow gravity to keep the stomach’s contents where they belong.

However, sleeping on your side can also make a difference - so long as you choose the correct side. Several studies have found that sleeping on the right side aggravates heartburn, while sleeping on the left tends to calm it.

The reason is not entirely clear. One hypothesis holds that right-side sleeping relaxes the lower oesophageal sphincter, which lies between the stomach and the oesophagus.

Another holds that left-side sleeping keeps the junction between the stomach and the oesophagus above the level of gastric acid.

In a study in The Journal Of Clinical Gastroenterology, scientists recruited a group of health subjects and fed them high-fat meals on different days to induce heartburn.

Immediately after the meals, the subjects spent four hours lying on one side or the other as devices measured their oesophageal acidity.

Ultimately, the researchers found that “the total amount of reflux time was significantly greater” when the subjects lay o their right side.

In addition, the average overall acid clearance was significantly prolonged with the right side down.

In another study, this one in The American Journal Of Gastroenterology, scientist fed a group of chronic heartburn patients a high-fat dinner and a bedtime snack, then measured reflux as they slept.

Sunday, 2 January 2011

How would like to live your life - if you have a chance to do it all over again?

While you may not be able to start your life all over again, you can make a brand new start of it from this day!

If I had my life to live over I’d like to make more mistakes next time. I’d relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual trouble, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones. You see, I’m one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. - Jean de La Bruyere

The only life worth living is the adventurous life. Of such a life the dominant characteristic is that it is unafraid. If is unafraid of what other people think. It does not adapt either its pace or its objectives to the pace and objectives of its neighbors. It thinks its own thoughts, it reads its own books, it developed its own hobbies, and it is governed by its own conscience. The herd may graze where it pleases or stampede where it pleases, but he who lives the adventurous life will remain unafraid when he finds himself alone. - Raymond B. Fosdick